AkzoNobel’s Coral brand has launched Touching Colours, a sensory project developed in partnership with VML Brasil and the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind. The initiative translates 70 colours into multisensory Cromopoems® that combine braille, sound and poetry, giving Brazil’s six million visually impaired people a new way to experience colour.
More than six million visually impaired people in Brazil now have a new way to experience colour, thanks to a sensory innovation developed by AkzoNobel’s Coral brand. In collaboration with VML Brasil and the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind, the Touching Colours project is based on neuroscience studies showing that colours can also be perceived by blind people through emotions, memories and sensations.
The initiative translates RGB, CMYK and HEX colour codes into so-called Cromopoems® – a collection of 70 colours reimagined as unique sensory experiences through braille and sound. For instance, Citrus Orange is described as “That urge to bite into a fresh fruit in the playground. Letting the juice run down your chin and spending the day with its scent on your hands. That colour is Citrus Orange, a vibrant, warm shade of orange.”
“We’re giving blind and visually impaired people access to experiences that were previously restricted within the visual universe. By transforming colour into sensation, poetry and sound, Coral is contributing to broadening horizons and reinforcing the importance of accessibility as an essential part of innovation,” has stated said Alexandre Munck, Executive Superintendent of the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind.
The 70 colours were selected from nine chromatic scales within AkzoNobel’s portfolio. From these, initials were created in braille, giving graphic value and establishing a distinctive creative approach for the project’s visual language. The Cromopoems were then assembled into an accessible colour fan for blind and partially sighted people. Based on three essential elements – colour, braille and sensory perception – the fan features black cards with each colour accompanied by braille text that conveys the emotions and sensations linked to it. Spoken audio versions of the Cromopoems are also available.
“This project has taken a crucial step on the path to inclusion to ensure that more people can feel and choose colours in an innovative way, going beyond sight to explore new forms of sensory connection,” has added Daniel Geiger Campos, Global Director of AkzoNobel’s Decorative Paints business and member of the Executive Committee.